ine by derived
light. There is but One who is light in Himself. He who said, 'I am the
light of the world, he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness,'
was comparing Himself to the sunshine, whereas when He said to us, 'Ye
are the light of the world; men do not light a lamp and put it under a
bushel,' He was comparing us to the kindled light of the lamp, which had
a beginning and will have an end.

Before, and independent of, His historical manifestation in the flesh,
the Eternal Word of God, who from the beginning was the Life, was also
the light of men; and all the light of reason and of conscience, all
which guides and illumines, comes from that one source, the Everlasting
Word, by whom all things came to be and consist. 'He was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' And further, the
historic Christ, the Incarnate Word, is the source for men of all true
revelation of God and themselves, and of the relations between them; the
Incarnate Ideal of humanity, the Perfect Pattern of conduct, who alone
sheds beams of certainty on the darkness of life, who has left a long
trail of light as He has passed into the dim regions beyond the grave.
In both these senses He is the light, and we gather our radiance from
Him.

We shall be 'light' if we are 'in the Lord.' It is by union with Jesus
Christ that we partake of His illumination. A sunbeam has no more power
to shine if it be severed from the sun than a man has to give light in
this dark world if He be parted from Jesus Christ. Cut the current and
the electric light dies; slacken the engine and the electric arc becomes
dim, quicken it and it burns bright. So the condition of my being light
is my keeping unbroken my communication with Jesus Christ; and every
variation in the extent to which I receive into my heart the influx of
His power and of His love is correctly measured and represented by the
greater or the lesser brilliancy of the light with which I reflect His
radiance. Ye were some time darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.'
Keep near to Him, and a firm hold of His hand, and then you will be
light.

And now I need not dwell for more than a moment or two upon what I have
already said is included in this conception of the Christian man as
being light. There are two sides to it: one is that all Christian people
who have learned to know Jesus Christ and have been truly taught of Him,
do possess a certitude and clearness of knowledg